Basketry and leatherwork combine for QEST grant recipient
Livery company the Leathersellers has named Iseabal Hendry as the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) Emerging Maker Scholar.
The Emerging Maker Grant provides funding to makers who have been practising professionally for four years or less and who have a strong connection to materials, technical skills and processes.
The Leathersellers’ Foundation granted £10,000 to QEST in support of the award.
Funding will enable Iseabal to push her leatherworking practice in new directions. She will undertake one-on-one training with five master craftspeople across the UK and her long term goal is to combine traditional basket weaving with fine leatherwork. Iseabal hopes to pass on local basketry techniques to young people in schools.
Iseabal graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2016 with a Textile Design degree, specialising in embroidery with a specific focus on leatherwork. She launched her first collection of handwoven accessories in 2020.
She said: “This grant opens unique opportunities that simply wouldn’t be available to me otherwise. Financially at this stage in my career, where I’m still working a part-time job to support my craft, the opportunity to learn one-to-one from some of the best basketmakers across the UK is one I’m incredibly grateful for.”
